Frozen food products including meat and poultry products prepared in serving portion sizes to be quickly heated and served have been long available, particularly in the institutional trades such as for use in fast food restaurants
There is now a trend towards and a need for dietary foods that are low in fats and starches. This results in a significant problem in producing an acceptable appetizing looking meat product such as poultry which can be prepared simply by oven warming in a microwave oven for example (rather than by deep frying with breading or batter on the outside) to produce an acceptable golden brown or roasted poultry type of appearance.
Microwave ovens quickly and efficiently heat meats, but the meats are braised, browned or colored by the heating to have an appetizing appearance. For this reason, acceptable meat and in particular poultry products which can be stored in the frozen state for preservation have in the past been breaded for deep frying in oil. A significant part of the function of the breading is cosmetic, and in general the breading must be fried to produce a pleasing and appetizing golden brown color However, this could result in a loss of control of taste and flavoring intensity. It may not be incidental that the cost and weight of the breading is less than that of the meat or poultry. Also, the breading can serve as a carrier of spices or flavorings.
In view of the demand for precooked products that need only be warmed prior to serving, the demand for light and low calorie foods, and dietary restrictions against fats, both the breading and the frying steps are at times unacceptable. Also, the flavored breading is just that and is not product flavoring. Furthermore, it is very difficult to provide breadings that will survive cooking, freezing and reheating cycles normal for frozen precooked foods. Should the breaded foods be cooked or warmed in ways other than frying, they lose their appetizing appearance, particularly if cooked or warmed in microwave ovens (which do not naturally brown the outer surfaces). Diet conscious meal planners complain that such foods contribute higher calorie content and contain excessive fats. Furthermore, the breading detracts from the meat or poultry flavor and texture.
It has thus not been feasible in the prior art to provide an unbreaded frozen product which when warmed to serving temperature in an oven, rather than in hot grease, has acceptable appearance and taste. Acceptable methods of coating and flavoring commercially produced poultry products so that they have a natural appearance and have special spices and flavors permeated into the meat instead of merely in the outer breading crust have not been available in the past.
Even if the foregoing problems could be solved, it is not known how to season the meat and poultry prior to freezing and cooking with spices and flavorings which will remain intact during initial preparation in the frozen state and after warming. Such flavorings previously have been included in breading formulas for deep fat frying. It is desirable to provide product lines of preflavored frozen meats and poultry with consistent quality control and flavor themes.
Furthermore, the internal meat texture and flavor impacts the quality of the products and must be controlled. For example, a turkey or chicken breast may become dry and unpalatable due to freezing since freezing and storage tends to dehydrate meat. Also, it is desirable to provide flavoring, tenderizer or seasoning internally to the meat and poultry products. This has been conventionally done in the past to cured meat products, such as ham and bacon. For home cooking, there are now marinades and tenderizers available for processing meats before cooking. However, these are inconsistent with fast food preparation and quality control uniformity. In particular, they are inconsistent with a factory applied outer coating of flavors and spices, such as those which might be desirable for imparting such flavors as curry, cheese, barbecue, for the production of specialty product lines for theme restaurants or personal flavor preferences, or merely to provide a variety of choices.
It is known to marinate meats and poultry to improve texture and flavor. It has been the practice to marinate meat and poultry products by tumbling in a marinade solution and applying reduced pressure during the tumbling, as shown for example by U.S. Pat. No. 7,766 to G. Starkweather issued Nov. 5, 1850--which also teaches exposing the meat alternately to brine and reduced pressure air atmospheres to cure, tenderize and flavor the meat. Vacuum massaging of meats and poultry in marinades is so commonplace now that many vendors supply chambers for locating at restaurants and like places. The trademarked "HS 3 Inject Star" automatic vacuum massage system is available from Globus Laboratories, Inc., 4 Gannett Drive, White Plains, N.Y. 10604. Typical tumbling equipment used in methods for flavoring and coating meat products is set forth in aforesaid Starkweather patent showing a simple tumbler and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,595,680 to L. G. Fischer et al issued July 27, 1971 showing a more complex tumbler.
Tumblers are currently available from many manufacturers for use in the meat industry. Other examples of marinating equipment for meat and poultry include U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,634 to G. Gasbarro issued Dec. 23, 1975; U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,808 to W. Strong issued Mar. 22, 1977; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,766 to L. Crossley issued May 5, 1981. Gasbarro U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,634 teaches that the amount of marinade solution absorbed by the meats or poultry is a function of the exposure time, the degree of agitation in a tumbler, the strength of the marinade solution, and the amount of reduced pressure within a closed tumbling chamber. This interrelationship of complex variables, however, is inconsistent with the desire to produce uniform and consistent products, no matter what the flavor or marinade is, through simple and certain control.
The marination of hams and larger meat portions has been enhanced by the injection of marinade before pickling in a marinade solution as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,426 to K. Jesperson et al issued July 26, 1977.
However, there is a deficiency in the prior art relating to the quality control of marinated meat products. Thus, because of varying portions, sizes of products, pressures, tumbler speeds, processing times, etc., it is extremely difficult to get a product consistently marinated the same way with every batch. This is particularly true when each product must be separately injected with marinade since the percentages of marinade absorbed by the meat cannot be held constant for different sizes and or shapes of meat products.
Commercial methods must be capable of being carried out in a mass production environment simply, fast, at low cost, and with unskilled labor. Also, simplified capital production equipment is a significant requirement, both because of cost and maintenance. Complex tumbling equipment may be inoperable a large percentage of the time due to routine cleaning and maintenance and for repairs due to catastrophic failure. Furthermore, critical timing and operational procedures readily vary product quality, and may require careful and skillful attention by skilled labor.
Others have recognized that it is desirable to provide precooked meat products that resemble fried or baked products after mere warming by the end user. U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,603 to D. R. Sortwell issued Apr. 22, 1980 recognizes the failure of frozen food products, when oven or microwave cooked, to have the preferred appearance of fat-fried products. However, he resorts to a different kind of breading coating laced with oils and starches, and thus only produces a variation of a breaded product. Other patents relating to special breading mixtures for glazing or simulating roasted poultry appearance, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,367,242 to G. W. Jarvis et al issued Jan. 4, 1983 and 3,653,924 to E. W. Penton issued Apr. 4, 1972, also suffer from the deficiency that they require oils and starches which leads to a resulting reduction of nutritional value.
Other attempts have been made to provide product features for frozen chicken and the like that enhance flavor and quality. U.S. Pat. No. 3,078,172 to L. L. Libby issued Feb. 19, 1953, teaches freezing uncooked chicken and batter and including oils and starches in the special batter constituency.